Sunday, March 28, 2010

I have been busy at work since middle of March. Even though I have got invitations for hiking here and there, I haven't been able to join as yet, not until my nationwide tour for my work is done. That would be on April 10.

My last outstation trip will be on Apr 2, that would take me Segamat, Muar and Batu Pahat. Once that is done, I'll be free over the weekend again.

Not only that I don't have time on weekends but I also don't have the luxury of time at work. I have been promising my colleagues and friends that I'd confirm the hiking trip to Gunung Ledang on April 23 but so far I haven't been able to pick up the phone and call Ledang Resort for booking.

And I really hope that I'd be able to confirm the hiking trip by next week. Or else, it'll be too late and I'd have to postpone the date.

In the meantime, I am leaving for Kuching this morning. I purposely arranged for my flight very early in the morning of Sunday so that I'd have the time to wander around Kuching city to look for kek lapis, sayur midin and ikan terubuk masin. He He He!

The last time I went to Kuching was 3 years ago. When I went there the first time, about twenty years ago, I remember eating red color fruit that that looks like starfruit. I ate the same fruit recently when a friend went there and brought back some. I forgot the name of the fruit already!

Monday, March 22, 2010

I missed the first meeting that the group had on the hiking planning for Gunung Tahan (GT). In the meeting they also discussed about the physical preparation that includes hiking activities at several mountains.

I already missed two sessions and will end up missing all the sessions for this month due to work commitment. For two weeks in a row I'd have to go outstation on Sunday. So, I prefer not to go for long hours activities on Saturday as I don't want to be away from my family too long.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Personally, I don't think this mountain is very popular amongst hikers due to access problem and furthermore it's not as challenging as those mountains in G7 list. When it comes to access problem, we had to take a ride from a friend who's driving a 4WD to get to the camp site. The 4WD journey itself took almost 1.5 hours. It's not advisable to drive a sedan car to the campsite as the road is very rough.

Otherwise the mountain could easily be one of my favourites as LataKijang, a five storey high waterfalls is also located here. What a beautiful sight! And the climb is also simple, unlike other mountains of the same range of height that I have been; namely Nuang and Ledang.

Located near Kampung Chennai, KualaKelawang, NegeriSembilan, GunungBesarHantu (GBH) is 1462 meters above sea level. For a mountain of this height, the hiking can be done in just a day.

How To Get There?

We left at 2.00pm from SubangJaya by taking LDP until Semenyih. From there, we took LEKAS highway to Ampangan, NegeriSembilan. When we came out from the highway, we took the left turn to KualaKelawang. And finally we drove all the way to KampungChenna by following the signboard. All in all, the driving from SubangJaya to KampungChenna junction took around 1.5hours.

The Camping Night!

We stopped over at Kg. Chenna for ABC (very nice and very cheap too, RM1.00 per bowl) while waiting for others to arrive. All of us were having Maxis number and unfortunately there was no Maxis line here, the only service that worked was 013. That means we were already out of contact with our loved ones by the time we reached Kg. Chenna. While having ABC, we were kind of worried as the villager was saying that the road to the base camp is not accessible by car. And I didn't really get the confirmation from one of the fellow hikers that we could get a ride from him. Soon after, my worries were gone as Lucas and his girlfriend arrived in their brand new 4WD.

The 4WD drive to the base camp took about 1.5hours and we arrived there at 7.40pm, it was already drizzling and very dark.

While the chef and his assistant were busy preparing dinner, I and hiking buddy put up our tent . It's a new tent and it's the first time for us to erect our own tent. Much to my delight, it was pretty easy. Our chef prepared AyamMasakKicap, Scrambled Eggs and Stir fried Mixed Veges. Big compliments to our chefs as the foods turned out to be very tasty.

We were informed that we'll start hiking at 8am the next day. I woke up early as usual and in fact I could hardly sleep as the noise from waterfalls was very loud. We had to dismantle our tents and to leave them in the cars very early in the morning while the Chef was busy in his kitchen preparing fried rice to 'tapau' to the summit.

The Hiking

We left at around 7.50am by crossing the stream to the other side of the camping site. Upon crossing we had to go up 340 metal steps of steep gradient to the logging trail. Some of the metal steps were no longer in good conditions, so we had to be extra careful. It took around 30 minutes to get out from the area into logging trail.

It took us another 45 minutes to complete the logging trail where we reached an abandoned orangasli settlement area (Check Point 1). There is another stream at the end of the logging trail. We didn't cross it, instead we turned inside the forest on the right side to go to the next Check Point - Camp Orhid.

We took around 2 hours from the last first Check Point to Camp Orchid (Check Point 2), about 1,000 meters above sea level. However, the trails were rather simple and it felt more like jungle trekking. It's the gradual change in elevation that made it less challenging. In a way, it's good too as we were less tiring! As the name suggests, in Camp Orchid, we saw a lot lot of wild beautiful orchids. Camp Orchid can easily accommodate 40 tents. However, water can be a problem and we'd have to carry a lot of water if were to camp here.

With the elevation of 1,000 meters, we already covered 2/3 of the mountain. The last one third was very challenging as the trails were steep and slippery too. The air was cooler even though we were tired and stopped almost every 10 minutes, we felt fresh!

Finally, we reached the summit at 11.45, that means 4 hours to reach the summit. At the summit, we could see 360 degrees of the surrounding. Unfortunately, it was misty that day! And we only had the opportunity to look around when the sky was clear every now and then, we could see some other mountains nearby and the valley down below. It was beautiful and breathtaking view! Then we knew that the rewards were all worth it!

Going down was a lot faster and some of us fell as the trails were slippery and due to the gravity pull. And we reached back the base camp slightly after 8 hours! And we rested a long time at LataKijang while waiting for others. We enjoyed the view of LataKijang, I didn't dip into the water as it was very cold and the wind really chilled me!

It was a very good experience climbing GunungBesarHantu. We don't know when we'll ever go there again. For some of us, they had been wanting to come here for more than 3 years but never had the opportunity to do so due to the access problem!

Friday, March 12, 2010

I am excited as I am going for a camping plus hiking on Saturday to GunungHantuBesar, KualaKelawang, NegeriSembilan.

Thank you to a group of friends (I only met them once at the peak of GunungAngsi last month) who invited us to join them.

There will be four of us going and we'll be leaving from SubangJaya around 2pm. The plan is to camp at the foothill for one night on Saturday. We will climb the mountain the next day, so it's going to be a day hiking trip.

Not much preparation that is required as we are not planning to cook at all. We'll have our early dinner at 5pm before we go in to the jungle. For supper, we're planning to have sandwich. We'll just need to boil water the next morning for coffee/hot milo. And sandwich again for breakfast!

So, I am going there with new hiking backpack (used once only so far) and new tent (never used at all!).

I pray that the weather will be good so that we can drive further inside to the camping base. Or else, may have to get help form the other friends who are driving 4WD.

Monday, March 8, 2010

There were 9 of us climbing up Bukit Tabur East Side last week. At the last peak, we met several others and were informed about Tabur Extreme!

That sounds exciting! It means apart from West and East sides, there is another trail to explore in my favourite hiking place. The name itself conjures up something exciting and challenging. I'll definitely find the trail up there soon!

Tabur Extreme - next to the east side

The hill and its surroundings were very misty that day and we didn't get to see much of beautiful scenery of the lake and the jungle until on the way back. For some of us, including the first timers, they never bothered to look around too, they were too focused to reach back the foothill. I think they are missing the good point about hiking, it's always not the destination that matters, but the journey!

From now onwards, I'd follow the signature pose of John and upload it here as testimony that I have been to the places that I blog about. And the picture below was just next to the ravine,at the edge of the peak. Suddenly I got acrophobia, facing the ravine with my hands pointing to the sky, as though I was ready to jump off!

Next week, we are going to Gunung Hantu Besar, Kuala Kelawang. The climb is going to be a day's pack but we are going to camp at Camp Orchid for one night!